Song Mei Pavilion, crafted by artisans from Chongqing, is the first structure to be built at the Chinese Garden.

Gardens were at the heart of Chinese culture for 2,000 years - places for poets to write and recite, for musicians to compose and perform, for artists to draw and paint. Surviving scrolls of those artists' works show us what the early gardens looked like. We see that open pavilions like Song Mei sheltered both poets and picnickers from the elements as they gazed upon nature for respite and inspiration.

As with so many of our own gardens, the inspiration for Seattle's impressive multimillion-dollar Chinese garden began with a plant list. After Mayor Charles Royer visited Seattle sister city Chongqing in China's Sichuan Province, he appointed a citizens committee to explore the idea of a Chinese garden here. Betty Miller, a local horticulturalist renowned for designing the plantings at Freeway Park, was appointed to that committee for her expertise in Chinese plants - and she became a motivating force for creating the garden. At the time, no Chinese-style public garden existed in the U.S., and plants from China were unknown to most gardeners. Miller had long been exploring their potential, growing many plants of Chinese origin in her North Seattle garden.

In the mid-1980s, a Chinese delegation came to Seattle to look at several potential sites. One - on the campus of South Seattle Community College in West Seattle - reminded them of Chongqing, a city of hills overlooking the Yangtze River. And, the college's distance from city bustle was appealing for a Sichuan-style country garden. Such gardens use the principle of "borrowed scenery," so the views to the city skyline (and to Mount Rainier when a planned three-story Floating Clouds Pavilion is completed) take full advantage of visually extending the garden. Plus, the delegation declared, the feng shui of the site indicated a likely place for an emperor to be born. Seattle's Chinese Garden had found its home.

Madame Wu Yue Hua, director of the Chongqing Park Bureau (who was recently coaxed out of retirement to discuss new plantings) worked with Miller to develop the plant list that the garden's designers are working from today. Phil Wood, president of the Seattle Chinese Garden Society, says, "We hope to see all of the plants on Betty and Madame Wu's original list end up in the eventual six-acre garden."

Now In Bloom Rosa moyesii was on Betty Miller's and Madame Wu's original plant list. Vigorous and arching, it has single blooms with prominent yellow stamen and large, flask-shaped red hips. 'Geranium' is more compact with cherry-red flowers and orange-red hips.

With all the modern amenities and plans for a conference center called The Gathering Together Hall, the Seattle garden will some day resemble the rambling, Sichuan-style gardens of Chongqing. Already, the fledgling garden has inspired a new Asian-studies curriculum at the college, and the students in the horticulture program are busy studying Chinese plants.

I suspect that once the Chinese Garden is fully planted, we'll see a great many more plants of Chinese origin in nurseries and home gardens, and realize how well plants from China do in our climate. Outstanding examples include the majestic tree peony; Hamamelis mollis, the most fragrant of all the witch hazels; Acer davidii, the stripe-bark maple; Mahonia japonica `Bealei'; and the graceful snowbell tree, Styrax japonica. Like many other plants that share the species name of japonica, these last two really do come from China. The confusion results because sometimes a plant can be common to both countries, or often the Europeans first discovered plants of Chinese origin in Japan, and named them accordingly.

Seattle's Chinese Garden may well give birth to a renaissance in our appreciation of plants from the country long known as "The Mother of All Gardens."

To learn more

The Seattle Chinese Garden Society gives tours of the garden during the spring and summer every Saturday at 1 p.m. For directions or information on how to support the garden (Phase I of the Capital Campaign is still underway) call 206-282-8040.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. She is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" from Sasquatch Books. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.